ALIENS & ROBOTS for X-PLORERS

it's no secret that i love the X-PLORERS RPG.  so, i'm happy to announce that some stuff i designed for the game has been published by BRAVE HALFLING!  john took the ALIEN and ROBOT generators i made, spruced up the layout and added some awesome artwork from steve zeiser. seriously - check out this badass cover:

anyways - if you want  to grab this puppy it's up on RPG NOW for less than $2. Click here to start making robots and aliens! if you've never played X-PLORERS you can check out the free (sans art) version here.

HOMEMADE S&W BOX

i found myself in michael's the other day.  i had gotten an idea for making a dice tray.  after some inspiration from dave bezio via an old rpg.net thread i went hunting for some wooden bowls/trays and some adhesive felt.  during my search through the aisles of michael's i came upon some of those "faux book boxes".  basically, a box in the shape of an old hardcover.

well, i made the dice trays. when i was done i painted the "book box" black (there were birds on the cover) and...well, this happened:

the front - i love the cover to CORE

my white box books fit perfectly inside. the front cover has a reference sheet for NPC reactions, attack bonuses by level, my house rules for races and the armor picture from CORE

the back - i turned this DCC pic into a S&W one. why not, right?

 cool, huh? oh, and these are the dice trays:

i made these for our store - i hate when people roll dice on top of cards or through minis. yes, that is a VHS copy of STAR WARS on my floor.

WHITE BOX CAMPAIGN KICK OFF (with an assist from BTW)

so, i started to run my WHITE BOX campaign yesterday. sadly, there was no adventuring - but we did get a heck of a lot accomplished. as i touched on in my last post, we've started running S&W in our store for our PATHFINDER leaning customers. we used the BEYOND THE WALL chargen system (just the flavor - most mechanics were thrown out with these exceptions: the "player to your right gains +1", weapon specialization acts as a +1 hit/damage with the specified weapon and you gain your special item) and it was a huge hit with everyone. so much so that people wanted to buy the S&W COMPLETE book just to get the chargen tables (which i had to explain to them weren't in there)! 

so, we used the BTW system again for my campaign and AGAIN it was a huge hit.  the four characters generated:

• Cornelius - halfling fighter (used the outrider playbook)
• Armond - human thief (used the untested thief playbook)
• Gideon - halfling thief (used the halfling vagabond playbook)
• Garrock - dwarf fighter (used the dwarf adventurer playbook)

they were all happily scribbling notes on their (awesome looking) WB character sheets (*AHEM*) and coming up with ways that they knew each other - including one character who's already at odds with another. this was discussed while the one player was in the bathroom - so he's not even aware of it.

the standout hook that the BTW tables generated: one of the characters (gideon) discovered a moving dragon skeleton UNDER the town - the entrance was discovered under the basement of a burned down house...so he's now using that secret place as a hideout to start a thieves guild. 

next weekend we'll start playing. i kind of feel bad, since the adventure i have planned will almost immediately take them out of the town they've made. it's not a dungeon crawl though, so they *should* make it back alive.

i scanned our notes from the session since i know more than a few people are interested in how the BEYOND THE WALL system plays out.

out town is called OXLEY...you can see a quick map of it and some of the key NPCs on the images below.

SWORDS & WIZARDRY WHITE BOX CHARACTER SHEET

i mentioned in my previous post that my friends and i have recently purchased one of our favorite local gaming stores. we took control in may - and we're still open - so i guess that means we're doing something right.

it's been interesting talking to all of our customers about games and all other things related to this hobby of ours...but the one thing that has taken us by surprise is the general attitude of gamers towards the current rules-heavy games. as you can imagine, the most heavily played rpg in the store is PATHFINDER - but here's the kicker - many, many of the players are tired of it. most of them play it because it's the only fantasy rpg they've ever played  - counting of course, 3.X.  we've overheard the players complaining about the rules, the constant focus on combat and all that - so we decided to take a gamble and start running all the rules-lite games that we like.

guess what? SUCCESS. they love it. and they BUY IT. the runaway hit has been SWORDS AND WIZARDRY COMPLETE. we've sold through 3 orders from frog god and just placed another one due to the demand. crazy, right? it's funny watching these players (who are all used to min-maxing and "building" characters) be told to roll 3d6 in order...and when they get a 17 or 18 they're like "what do you mean it's just a +1 bonus?". but they're having fun and most of them see these easier games as a breath of fresh air.
 
speaking of SWORDS AND WIZARDRY - as much as i like COMPLETE...i'd like to profess my love for the BRAVE HALFLING version of WHITE BOX. it's just awesome and simple and allows me to do whatever i want.

is there still love out there for WHITE BOX? i hope so - i just made a character sheet for it. it's in the same "style" of my previous effort for S&W COMPLETE...but this one can be printed on both sides, cut, and placed in your WHITE BOX.  check it out...

download it here.

EDIT: the pdf was printing weird and when i tried printing on both sides it cut into the character sheet. i fixed the pdf and it should cut cleaner now.  sorry about that.

EDIT: i noticed that i messed up the modifiers for XP bonuses. there is no general INT bonus - there's a general CHA bonus. the sheet is now correct. boom.

MINOTAURS as a BX or LL class

sorry for the lack of updates lately...things here have been busy.

first off, my friends and i pooled our resources and actually bought a gaming store here on long island.  one of the local game stores out here was going to close its doors as the (former) owner is planning a move to texas.  so, yeah - we took it over. it's been an interesting 2 months to say the least. i'll post more about the store in the days (or weeks) to come.

anyway - minotaurs. a few months ago i worked up a minotaur class and posted it on the LABYRINTH LORD boards...i did a layout for it last month and included an illustration that kelvin greene did for DUNGEON STRIKE. 

my take on them was a bit more from the 4E/WOW side of things. i figured minotaurs that were PCs wouldn't be so darn evil, you know? their spell-like abilities are pulled from the LABYRINTH LORD cleric and druid list...so you'll need those to use this class.

so, here it is: let me know what you think.  DOWNLOAD THE MINOTAUR.

PACIFIC RIM

i just got home from seeing PACIFIC RIM. i don't really know what to say other than it was incredible. if you grew up watching old godzilla movies, shogun warriors, voltron, robotech and other stuff like that than you NEED to see this movie. seriously.

BEYOND THE WALL - THE HALFLING OUTRIDER

ok, so i agreed to give the BEYOND THE WALL RPG a spin with a few other bloggers. basically, we've all agreed to make characters at a virtual table with certain blogs being "to the right" of other blogs for the purposes of character generation. i've chosen to use the HALFLING OUTRIDER playbook.  the mastermind behind all this is rob barrett from the blog VARGOLD: THE WOLF TIME. check out the original blog post here. i'm to the right of anthony and rob is to my right. 

basically, if you use the playbooks to generate a character you begin with base set of attributes and through character generation you gain points. i'm not sure that you can lose points in anything. part of the fun of making a character this way is that you also generate your starting village during the process - certain tables allow you to add NPCs and locations to the village. this way, when everyone has made a character they have a shared history and fleshed out starting base of operations (and some adventure hooks for the GM, to boot).  it's my understanding that we'll add all that stuff after our characters are fleshed out a bit.

probably not what he looks like - but hey, this is a cool pic.

here is the intro flavor text for the HALFLING OUTRIDER (a fighter/thief, basically): "back in the halfling lands you were one of the warriors of your people. you patrolled the borders of your homeland on your trusty pony, watching for bands of barbarians, goblins, and meddling big folk. now, you have journeyed far from home on adventures of your own.

you were the strongest and most athletic of your people. your CON begins at 12, your DEX begins at 10, your STR begins at 6 and all your other stats begin at 8".

the first few tables detail how i came to the land of men, and the first table is titled WHAT DID YOUR OLD GAFFER DO?  well, i rolled a 5...so my gaffer tended the fields around my ancestral home – we grew the finest smoking leaf for miles and miles around. (+2 CON/DEX; +1 CHA)

            ADD LOCATION TO VILLAGE

the next table asks me WHY I LEFT MY COMFORTABLE HOME...a 2 reveals that i left my comfortable home with a small band of dwarves. they had pressing business far from my home and i decided to help them out. (+2 CHA; +1 CON)

ok, so next up is a table that proclaims AFTER LEAVING YOUR PEOPLE YOU HAD A DIFFICULT TIME ADJUSTING TO LIVING WITH HUMANS. THE OTHER CHARACTERS BECAME YOUR FRIENDS - WHO ELSE BECAME YOUR FRIEND?  so, i guess that after helping the dwarves with their mission i settled in a local human village and I met the other player characters.  a roll of 8 tells me that the local humans found me a fair sort, and enough of a stranger to be impartial – hence, i was elected to be their judge. yikes. i’ve seen all the villagers on their worst days. (+2 WIS; +1 INT)

            ADD NPC TO VILLAGE

now, more flavor text: "you rode far from home and left behind the life you knew. you become a level 1 warrior-rogue. you gain the class abilities weapon specialization and fortune’s favor, and the skill direction sense. the tables below will give you all your bonus skills and further define your class abilities. what have you and your pony been through?"

this table asks WHAT DID YOU LEARN BEST ON THE ROAD? i rolled a 5 and so i've learned that my long traveling with the dwarves taught me the ins and outs of hard riding and long roads.  (+3 CON; gain RIDING skill)

WHAT DO YOUR ENEMIES FEAR MOST ABOUT YOU?  a 3 tells me that they fear a silent death from a knife in the back. dang - that's pretty hardcore. that'll keep a halfling safe on the road, i suppose.  

(+2 DEX; weapon specialization – DAGGER; shift to left)

            ADD LOCATION TO VILLAGE

now we get to the part where one of my previous adventures helps out the character to my right.  the table reads: WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU SINCE YOU SETTLED WITH THESE STRANGE HUMANS? THE PLAYER ON THE RIGHT WAS THERE WITH YOU.  i rolled a 2, so: not too long ago, the ghost of a long forgotten murder victim began haunting the village. i guess since i had access to various court records, some furious research and some assistance from the friend to my right (rob's dwarven adventurer) allowed me to crack the case and lure the ghost to rest in the graveyard. (+2 INT; friend to right gains +1 INT)

this is the last table. what's a halfling outrider without his trusty steed? the table asks me WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT MY PONY? my dice (with a result of 1) tell me that my pony is special because i can communicate with him as well as i can with any person. (+2 CHA; pony ally)

            ADD NPC TO VILLAGE

after that, i learn that the halfling outrider begins with the following equipment: dagger, your pony (counts as an ally), a very fine saddle, bags filled with food and rations, leather armor (+2 AC), a wooden shield (+1 AC), your favored weapon (which is a dagger, so i guess i have 2), and 4d6 silvers. i also have a +1 BAB.

my final stats are:
STR - 6
DEX - 14
CON - 18
INT - 11
WIS - 10
CHA - 13

cool! i have some ideas brewing about this guy - and i'm excited what else he's done. we'll learn that when anthony rolls up his YOUNG WOODSMAN.